


Still Falling

by ereshai



Series: Various Prompt Fills [16]
Category: Captain America (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Angst, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-08-19
Updated: 2014-08-19
Packaged: 2018-02-13 21:16:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 279
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2165511
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ereshai/pseuds/ereshai
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Written for the comment_fic prompt: Avengers movieverse, Steve, in canon – why didn’t he jump after Bucky?</p>
            </blockquote>





	Still Falling

**Author's Note:**

> Also, you should read [this fic](http://archiveofourown.org/works/2137821/chapters/4669596) by tigriswolf, who made the original prompt.

It haunts him, years later, when he knows more of what his body is capable of, that he didn't follow his first instinct to dive after Bucky and save him, no matter how impossible survival seemed at the time.  
  
But at the time he didn't know, and there was still HYDRA to deal with. The world needed saving, and Steve couldn't turn his back on that. All those years, fighting losing battles with only right on his side...with might finally on his side too, he could do something more; he could win.  
  
And if there had been a tiny part of him that didn't want to jump to certain death, well, he had ignored that fact pretty easily. He had faced bullets, and worse, without batting an eye. He isn't a coward, and no matter how much losing Bucky hurt, he had been strong enough to go on fighting for a cause they both believed in, and he had been strong enough to sacrifice himself for that cause, as well. Hadn't he proven that when he had flown the plane into the ice?   
  
But Bucky had survived, and Steve's sacrifice, while effective in the short-term, hadn't changed much in the long run; HYDRA is still around. Steve can't lie to himself any longer. Bucky had followed him to worse than death, not for any cause, but because they were Steve-and-Bucky, and Steve had let him fall.  
  
Steve won't make that mistake again. The world still needs saving, and he'll do his part, but it's not all on his shoulders; it never had been. Bucky's out there somewhere, still falling, and this time, Steve is going to save him.


End file.
